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25 December 2013

Swami Vivekananda's Quotes On Soham

Soham or So'ham or Souham (Devanagari: सोऽहम्, Bengali: সোহম্‌, सः+अहम= सोऽहम्, সঃ+অহম্‌=সোহম্‌) is a Sanskrit concept that means "I am He". Here "I" or "Aham" means "self" or "individual being" and "He" or "Sah" means the unchanging, omnipotent, omnipresent (cosmic) entity or God or Brahman. When someone says "Soham", he asserts that he and the supreme consciousness are not separate. This "Soham" is directly related to the Advaita concept of Vedanta.In this article we'll make a collection of Swami Vivekananda's quotes and comments on Soham. This article will also include Vivekananda's quotes on "I am He".

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Swami Vivekananda on Soham ("I am He")

As soon as we have realised that "I am He, I am the Self of the universe, I am eternally blessed, eternally free" — then will come real love, fear will vanish, and all misery cease.[Source]

As soon as you think "I am He ", great peace and joy will come to you. Control the senses. If a man curses me, I should still see in him God, whom through my weakness I see as a curser. The poor man to whom you do good is extending a privilege to you. He allows you, through His mercy, to worship Him thus.[Source]

Asti, Asti"—"Everything is!"—cherish positive thoughts. By dwelling too much upon "Nâsti, Nâsti"—"It is not! It is not!" (negativism), the whole country is going to ruin! "So'ham, So'ham, Shivo'ham"—"I am He! I am He! I am Shiva!" What a botheration! In every soul is infinite strength; and should you turn yourselves into cats and dogs by harbouring negative thoughts? Who dares to preach negativism? Whom do you call weak and powerless? "Shivo'ham, Shivo'ham"—"I am Shiva! I am Shiva!"[Source]

Even at the gate of death, in the greatest danger, in the thick of the battlefield, at the bottom of the ocean, on the tops of the highest mountains, in the thickest of the forest, tell yourself, "I am He, I am He". Day and night say, "I am He". It is the greatest strength; it is religion.[Source]

Ever tell yourself, "I am He." These are words that will burn up the dross that is in the mind, words that will bring out the tremendous energy which is within you already, the infinite power which is sleeping in your heart. This is to be brought out by constantly hearing the truth and nothing else.[Source]

Everything else must be thrown aside, and this is to be repeated continually, poured through the ears until it reaches the heart, until every nerve and muscle, every drop of blood tingles with the idea that I am He, I am He. [Source]

"I am Existence absolute, Knowledge absolute, Bliss absolute, I am He", this is Vedanta, the cap-stone of the perfect arch.[Source]

"I am He. Whatever [my] mind does, I am not touched. The sun is not touched by shining on filthy places, I am Existence."[Source]

I am He. When I say that I am not Thou, it is untrue. When I say I am separate from you it is a lie, a terrible lie. I am one with this universe, born one. It is self evident to my senses that I am one with the universe. I am one with the air that surrounds me, one with heat, one with light, eternally one with the whole Universal Being, who is called this universe, who is mistaken for the universe, for it is He and nothing else, the eternal subject in the heart who says, "I am," in every heart — the deathless one, the sleepless one, ever awake, the immortal, whose glory never dies, whose powers never fail. I am one with That.[Source]

In thine own heart, day and night, is singing that Eternal Music -- sachchidananda, Soham, Soham, (Existence, Knowledge, and Bliss, I am He, I am He)!"[Source]

Next comes Christian Science. They form the most influential party, nowadays, figuring everywhere. They are spreading by leaps and bounds, and causing heart-burn to the orthodox. They are Vedantins; I mean, they have picked up a few doctrines of the Advaita and grafted them upon the Bible. And they cure diseases by proclaiming "So'ham So'ham"—"I am He! I am He!"—through strength of mind. They all admire me highly.[Source]

Say — "I am Existence Absolute, Bliss Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, I am He," and like a lion breaking its cage, break your chain and be free for ever. What frightens you, what holds you down?[Source]

Say, "I have no disease", and you are whole; and say, "I am He"—"So'ham"—and you are quits—be at large.[Source]

Say "Soham, Soham" whatever comes. Tell yourself this even in eating, walking, suffering; tell the mind this incessantly — that what we see never existed, that there is only "I". Flash — the dream will break! Think day and night, this universe is zero, only God is. Have intense desire to get free.[Source]

Say to your own minds, "I am He, I am He." Let it ring day and night in your minds like a song, and at the point of death declare "I am He." That is the Truth; the infinite strength of the world is yours.[Source]

Sects, ceremonies, and books, so far as they are the means of a man's realising his own nature, are all right; when he has realised that, he gives up everything. "I reject the Vedas!" is the last word of the Vedanta philosophy. Ritual, hymns, and scriptures, through which he has travelled to freedom, vanish for him. "So'ham, So'ham"-- i am He, I am He -- bursts from his lips, and to say "Thou" to God is blasphemy, for he is "one with the Father".[Source]

So'ham—I am He. Repeat the idea constantly, voluntarily at first; then it becomes automatic in practice. It percolates to the nerves. So this idea, by rote, by repetition, should be driven even into the nerves.[Source]

The body drinks, eats, and so on. I am not the body. I am not mind. I am He.[Source]

The human brute does not worship because of his ignorance, and the Jivanmuktas (free souls) do not worship because they have realised God in themselves. "So'ham, So'ham"-- i am He, I am He -- they say; and how shall they worship themselves?[Source]

The keynote running through the music is — "I am He, I am He", all other notes are but variations and do not affect the real theme.[Source]

The man who realises, "I am He", though clad in rags, is happy.[Source]

The other day, I was a guest of Babu Priyanath Mukherjee at Baidyanath. There I had such a spell of asthma that I felt like dying. But from within, with every breath arose the deep - toned sound, "I am He, I am He". Resting on the pillow, I was waiting for the vital breath to depart, and observing all the time that from within was being heard the sound of "I am He, I am He!"[Source]

The plan of religion were already discovered ages ago when man found the last words, as they are called, of the Vedas—"I am He" —that there is that One in whom this whole universe of matter and mind finds its unity, whom they call God, or Brahman, or Allah, or Jehovah, or any other name.[Source]

Think always "Soham, Soham"; this is almost as good as liberation. Say it day and night; realisation will come as the result of this continuous cogitation.[Source]

This is the Advaita conclusion. "I am neither the body, nor the organs, nor am I the mind; I am Existence, Knowledge, and Bliss absolute; I am He."[Source]

To know the Atman as my nature is both knowledge and realisation. "I am He, there is not the least doubt of it." "No thought, no word, no deed, creates a bondage for me. I am beyond the senses, I am knowledge and bliss."[Source]